Southern
ScribeSouthern
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Travel Guide Review |
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Old Alabama Town provides one of the state's most educational excursions. Located in Montgomery, the four blocks of 19th-century buildings have been restored. The Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, a nonprofit organization developed in 1967, created the educational village to display a time and place. Mary Ann Neeley, Executive Director of the Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, has written about the individual buildings providing a historical, sociological, and cultural overview of Montgomery. More than fifty houses, which were in danger of being destroyed, were moved from around the central portion of the state and restored at the site. The houses preserves and displays life as it was lived in the South between from the 1830s through the 1890s. Two blocks of the village are devoted to allowing visitors to explore life and work during the time. The "Living" Block includes a log cabin, a dogtrot house, carriage house, "shotgun" house, tavern, grange hall, and grocery. The "Working" Block showcases a blacksmith's shop, drugstore, grist mill, cotton gin, woodcarver's shop, print shop, and cookshop. Several historic homes from the state have also been preserved. Neeley, the coauthor of THE WAY IT WAS: Montgomery and Her Central AlabamaNeighbors, 1850-1930, has done an excellent job of providing historical accuracy, interesting details, and lively trivia.
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